The Dangers Of The Black Widow.

I Did A Little Experiment In My Psychology , I Did A Fake Article For The School Paper Called The Dangers Of The Black Widow, it was just nonsense,
stuff like the black widow kill about a million people just in the -universe- per month, and the black widow is evolving into a more super and more
dangerous spider with enough venom to kill the whole human race. And in this article i included phrases like: scientist beleive, scientist said,
and there is a lot of proof.also we putted some pictures, fake pictures but we included under the pictures this words: scientist, proof, and
science

So after a few days we putted the article on the school paper then we did a statistical survey, to see how many people actually beleive what the
article said. from about 700 asked, 500 believed the article,10 didnt, and the rest just dont read the paper. those 500 were asked why they believed
the article, and they said. --Because scientist said,and we saw the pictures, also because we think the school paper is a reliable source--.

So that make me think, if people think if people think the internet is a reliable source, and see some pictures, or videos, are they gonna beleive
anything??

Also if people see stuff on the news and they think is a reliable source, are they gonna believe anything?

and if somebody says scientist believe , or it has been scientifically proven are people gonna believe anything?

this little school experiment make me think, who is a reliable source, if there is any, and who i should beleive, and are people that lazy that they
cant go and look stuff for themselves that they just read or see a very convincing article and they just beleive.

i think just people beleive anything that sounds convincing, but they just dont go a look if its true or not, they just believe it. not only on tv, or
the paper, but also stuff in the internet.

i dont know if u guys know, but there is this site xee-a twelve, that is just nonsense, but people actually beleive it.

so my question for u guys are : who is a reliable source?
why should i beleive the internet, its fictional,and anybody can put just bout anything, so why?
and why should i beleive anything people said, on tv radio, etc, they are just a bunch of liars and fakers, and some with some brain problems so why?

A good practice is to verify everything. For example you see a posting on the Web where someone claims something -- say --- maybe they claim that
European women are more likely to vote for right wing political parties than American women. Well, do the research on the web. After a while you can
draw your own conclusion (I'll assert here the answer is -- there is some evidence this was true in the 70's & 80's, but in the past two decades it
is no longer true.)

But you have to check EVERYTHING.

Another tip -- in general, if you believe something, try to disprove it. This will provide a natural check against the tendency to believe evidence
that supports your preconception, but discard evidence that opposes it. Kind of like playing chess against yourself. If you do this, sometimes you
will learn enough to change your mind about something you already believe.

There are two tools that I use to discern if something is factual. These are the Devils Advocate and Occams razor. The Devils Advocate is taking the
exact opposite position and trying to find 'proofs' to support that position. If the devil wins over the stated position, then the stated position
is usually false. Occams razor states that when two positions or theories are possible, the simplest of these is most likely the correct one. For
example, you come home and find your dog dead in the garage with an open pan of antifreeze from changing the coolant in your car. Now, one theory
could be that your neighbour who hates you, came over with a carefully prepared plan and poisoned your dog, placing it in the garage for the most
dramatic effect. Another theory is that the dog got into the garage and drank the antifreeze, and died of glycol poisoning.
Since it is well known that dogs will drink antifreeze, and there are warnings to keep it away from pets as it is poisonous, and there is a pan of it
open from changing the coolant, Occams razor would point to the dog doing itself in by drinking antifreeze. The other theory is possible, but not
likely.
Apply these tools and it gets easier to discern the BS from reality.

On topic: Very interesting experiment. It is human nature - you believe what you trust. The answer lies in not trusting. Question everything. Reason.
Think. As was said above - Source 1 says X, find other sources that either support or oppose the position, and count how many lean which way, what
those sources are, and why they might lean the way they do (remembering of course that other sources are also going to have their own biases). Once
you've got all the information you can get - draw your own conclusion. It won't be far off what is correct.

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